24 Tips On Creating a Domain Name and Domain Registration

24 Tips On Creating a Domain Name

Creating a domain name is not only one of the first decisions you make about your future website, it is also one of the biggest, followed closely by domain registration. Don’t believe the hype telling you all of the good domain names are taken and you’ll need to shell out the big bucks to get the one want, it simply isn’t true. With some brainstorming, a little trial and error, and the following key tips, you can successfully register the perfect domain name for your site.

The following are just a few, hints and tips on choosing and creating a domain name:

Domain Name Registration

1. Firstly, you don’t need a website to register a domain name, you can simply “park” your domain name for possible future usage. Many people and companies do this simply to protect the name from the competition or because the intend to use the name at some future date.
2. Get a dot-com suffix. When first creating your site, having the dot-com extension of your address is still essential because when guessing your web site address, the “.com” extension is the first one visitors will try. Next get the country suffix, that would be “.co.uk” in my case. If you feel you need to capture the ‘brand image’ then you may consider getting other respected suffixes, “.net”, etc.
3. Register as many extensions of your domain name as possible (within reason). Definitely register .com, .net. .biz and your country extension. See my article, Top Recommened Domain Name Registrars.
4. Once registered, make sure you know when your domains renewal fees are due. You don’t want to loose your domain name because you forgot the renewal date.
5. Never change the domain name of your website once its created and ranked on search engines. Doing so will affecting its search engine rankings for at least six months.

Brainstorm Keywords

1. Make a list of five keywords which best suits your website. Mix and match these keywords with your chosen domain name to create the perfect domain name. Having keywords in your URL makes it SEO friendly for visitors and the search engines.
2. Make your sites domain name unique and memorable, let it stand apart from the crowd. Avoid using generic terms. Use a thesaurus for brainstorming but don’t get too complex, keep it simple.
3. Try to include keywords in your domain name, i.e. MikesDogKennals.com or WeddingCakes.com.
4. Consider using your family name as your domain name, i.e. JohnSmithFamilyTree.com.
5. Consider registering common misspellings of your chosen domain name.
6. Try adding hyphens (dashes “-”) between words to make them more readable, i.e. John-Smith-Family-Tree.com.

Domain Name Format

1. You can register domain names that are a single word, a name or a phrase using almost any combination of ASCII characters.
2. Your domain name cannot include spaces.
3. Your domain name must only use letters, numbers and hyphens ( dashes “-”).
4. Your domain name must not begin or end with a hyphen.
5. Domain names are not case sensitive, so don’t use capital letters or camel case.
6. During the registration process you may see your domain name depicted in all capital letters, just ignore this. The actual registration will be made in all lower case letters.
7. When you tell people your domain name use capital letters to make it easier to read, i.e. KingSolutions.com and not kingsolutions.com.
8. Your domain name must be unique. There cannot be more than one web site with the same address.
9. Consider adding a prefix in front of your desired name, i.e. MY, OUR, YOUR, SHOPdomainname.
10. Consider adding a suffix at the end of your desired name, i.e. UK, USA, STORE, COMPANY, CORP, SOURCE, domain name.
11. Always check for your domain names availability before going any further, don’t build a web site and then try to register the domain name.
12. Once you have your domain name use it in your email address, i.e. jenny@kingsolutions.com.

Bad Word Combinations in Domain Names

1. Once you think you have your domain name figured out, get someone else to look at it.

You don’t want to end up with a domain name that has a completely different meaning from the one you intended. Here’s a few examples:

• Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views
  = ExpertSexChange.com
• Who Represents, find the name of the agent representing your favourite celebrity
  = WhorePresents.com
• Pen Island, Looking for a pen? Look no further
  = PenisLand.net
• The Italian Power Generator Company
  = PowerGenitalia.com

You have been warned

Conclusion to 24 Tips On Creating a Domain Name

You can research your domain name choices at any of the registrars listed in my article, Where to Register Domain Names. Most of these registrars provide domain name registration, domain name hosting, free domain name search facilities and some even give you a FREE domain name if you accept their domain name hosting package.

Finally, if you have any thoughts or suggestions relating to 24 tips on creating a domain name., don’t forget to let me have them in the comment box below. Thanks for dropping by.